The Knew at Old Curtis Street
Who am I to turn down a free The Knew show? Even if I’ve had an eleven-hour day at the scootershop, a lousy knight’s sleep, and not nearly enough caffeine to carry me into the wee hours of the night?
Well, it was not an easy battle to fight, staying up after a hellish work day and the looong bike ride home. But the lineup at Old Curtis Street last night promised a hell of a finale: the spoken-word work of my friend Charly “The City Mouse” Fasano and the gritty rock fabulosity of The Knew. So despite the fact that my body wanted only to curl into the fetal position and dream of a world without difficult scootershop customers, I jumped back on my trusty tenspeed and headed down the the tavern for some rock with Lady Tiffany.
I’ll be frank. The first band, King for a Day, was not terribly impressive. Their sound was an earnest blending of The Gin Blossoms and The Mountain Goats, unoffensive mid-nineties rock the likes of which you’d hear in a movie staring Ethan Hawke and oh, I dunno, Parker Posey or something. Not really my style, and kind of a weird choice to preface the band ahead.
Next up, The Jim Jims were a little better, a little edgier, but someone nearby remarked that the only reason we were really enjoying them was that they made for a nice reprieve from the previous band. Definitely drawing from The White Stripes and The Killers, The Jim Jims weren’t doing anything new, but at least they weren’t doing anything wrong. I probably wouldn’t make a special trip to see these guys as a headliner but they were, at least, a more appropriate choice to open for The Knew.
The main event of the evening was Charly Fasano’s book release, so the second band’s set was followed by some poetry reading by Fasano’s colleague, Scooter James. At this point I was so deliriously tired I am pretty sure I’d fallen asleep on the guy next to me (nice to meet you by the way, sorry about the drool on your shoulder), but I managed to sit through his set and got to see Charly perform with a cellist (neat beatnik touch, Charly). And finally, when my eyeballs were about to physically reject my contact lenses, The Knew came on.
This is the first time I’d seen this band, and they didn’t disappoint. Old Curtis St. probably has the world’s worst sound outside of a P.A. system at your local bingo hall, but they made the best of it with their bombastic, garagey style. They really made me want to stay, despite my body’s protestations to leave and get into bed. I managed three of their dancey songs, growing even more tired watching Megan bounce around the dance floor as though she had every ounce of energy I didn’t. But I would definitely make it to another The Knew show. They lit up the dingey room with their kinetic rock.